DATATRAC
Personnel Updates
• Barnes & Noble announced that Chairman Leonard Riggio will retire in December 2016.
• BJ’s Wholesale Club has announced the hiring of Lee Delaney as Executive VP and Chief Growth Officer.
• The Container Store announced that Kip Tindell is giving up the title of CEO, but will remain as Chairman. The CEO title will be passed to the President and COO Melissa Reiff; it was also announced that Sharon Tindell will assume the role of President as well as continue as Chief Merchandising Officer, Jodi Taylor CFO is now also Chief Administrative Officer, Melissa Collins is now Chief Marketing Officer, Eve Gordon is now Exec VP Stores Operations, Audrey Robertson is now Exec VP Cultural Programs, Community Relations, Social Media and John Thrailkill is now Exec VP Stores.
• RadioShack announced the hiring of Dene Rogers as President.
Industry Insight
• Amazon has teamed up with Tyson Foods to create their own meal kit. The new service will cost $299 per year and will deliver thousands of grocery products within a day or less to their customers in northern and southern CA and also in New York City and Seattle.
• Amazon has launched a new web-site for its Prime Now delivery service (primenow.com).
• Amazon will open fulfillment centers in Florence NJ and Carteret, NJ. The new centers will bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area.
• BJ’s Wholesale Club announced store pick-up options at all 213 locations. This will allow customers to order on the company’s website and pick their orders up at the service desk. Orders received by 1 pm will be ready the same day.
• Target is testing robots. In a select San Francisco, CA store the robot tracks the inventory levels.
• Walmart will be bringing back “greeters” at the entry of their stores in an attempt to increase customer service and decrease shoplifting.
• Walmart is testing a new two-day shipping service. The service, named ‘ShippingPass’ started testing on May 12, 2016. The service requires a subscription that costs $49 a year and entitles the member free two-day shipping.
Mergers and Acquisitions
• McGee’s Tire Stores has been acquired by Monro Muffler Brake Inc. The deal includes all retail and commercial locations. Monro Muffler Brake Inc. operates 1,024 locations in 25 states.
Real Estate
• Petco opened a new 770,000 square foot distribution center in Reno, NV. Petco’s tenth distribution center. The company also opened one new location in MD and one expanded location in CA.
• Sears and Kmart will close another 78 locations – 68 Kmart locations and 10 Sears locations. Most of the 78 locations will close by late July 2016 with the remaining by September 2016.
